Defect with gas pump ruled out in explosion

Denis J. O'Malley

Published 5:46 pm, Saturday, January 4, 2014

Jerry Valdez talks about a fire he witnessed at the Wheels Gas Station on Tamarack Avenue in Danbury on Dec. 20, 2013. The cause of the explosion that injured a Danbury man is unknown at this time.
Photo: Carol Kaliff

Though an investigation into the cause of an explosion that severely burned a man at a Danbury gas station last month remains open, any defect or irregularity with the pump involved has been ruled out as a cause, officials said.

"At this point we have no evidence that there was any issue with that particular pump," Fire Chief Geoff Herald said.

The Rev. David Wentroble, a Danbury man who works as a chaplain at Nyack Hospital in Nyack, N.Y., suffered extensive burns when a fireball ignited as he pumped gas into his vehicle at Wheels gas station on Tamarack Avenue at about 6:20 a.m. on Dec. 20.

Staff at the gas station rushed to Wentroble to help extinguish the flames, witnesses said, and he was transported by ambulance to Bridgeport Hospital's burn center, where he remained in critical condition Friday.

An investigation by a city fire marshal ensued, though Herald said it did not find any fault with the gas station or the pump itself.

"Their safety mechanisms are in place and were in place in this gas station, so there are no inherent safety issues with this or any other gas station as long as they continue to meet the statutorily required codes," Herald said.

The fire marshal's investigation also did not find any accidental cause for the explosion, and the inquiry has since been turned over to city police, who are said to be waiting until Wentroble's condition improves to a point where he can be interviewed.

Herald said at the time of the explosion, the nozzle of the gas pump was still in the victim's car and the fume cloud that ignited only burned Wentroble, aside from leaving superficial soot or char on the area around the fire.

Video surveillance of the incident also did not provide any clue as to what ignited the fumes. "It doesn't show him lighting a lighter, striking a match or anything like that," he said.

With that, until Wentroble is able to potentially explain what happened that morning, Herald is left with the theory that static electricity ignited the fumes -- "a very rare circumstance, but it does occasionally happen," he said.

"If this was indeed a static electric discharge that ignited this particular area of fumes, it's due to a very, very rare concurrence of circumstances," Herald said.